Chokechain
by RamenIsRad
Summary: A witness to a murder, Tenten thought for sure he’d kill her right then and there. But he wanted her to do something for him first: hide him at her house. You can’t be a accomplice when you’re at gun point, right?
1. Hide and Seek

**Chokechain**

**Chapter 1: Hide and Seek**

**Don't own Naruto… if I did, I'm not even gonna lie: I'd make myself a main character… oh yeah… btw the title I got from an Imogen Heap song. Give it a listen if you're up for something different…**

--

She never believed any of the shit people spread around about him. Rape, killing, dealing… it was all the same plot with a more dramatic twist than the one before. She blocked it all out from her mind. It was an easy thing for her to do. Why? Because she was in _love,_ dammit. And nothing anyone said could change the way she felt about him. That's just how it was.

She reached out her hand to catch some of his loose strands of hair and brushed it back behind his ear. It was the perfect shade of soft coal to match his night-black eyes. She couldn't believe she had someone so perfect sitting beside her. She liked to think of him as royalty.

A king lounging beside a peasant.

She didn't mind what analogy it was – she knew he was better than her and she treasured the time he wasted with her. She dropped her hand and pressed it on top of his free one beside her. She gave it a quick, light squeeze and took in the feel of his softness. _Perfection_.

"Tenten?"

"Hmmm?" she murmured, mystified by his smooth voice.

"I'm glad you're here with me."

She laughed. "Me too, Itatchi."

She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of the time on his cell phone he had laying out beside him. She sighed, "10:20… better head home."

She made a move to get up and wasn't too surprised to feel his smooth hand gripping onto her arm, yanking her back down. "Why?" he whispered up at her with his gentle voice he used only to persuade her. "I thought you're parents were gone for the next two weeks?"

"They are," she confirmed to him, barely trying to wriggle from his grasp. "But they left me at home because they trusted me. Because I am mature. I can't let them down in my shining hour!"

He leaned in a brushed his lips against her jaw lightly. She shivered. "I won't tell…"

She laughed, though this time it wasn't so much at the humor of what he had said. "I have to go now, Itatchi," she strained to say. "I'll just owe you, alright?"

He groaned and released her arm, standing up alongside of her. "Fine, I'll hold you too it."

He walked her to her car parked in his driveway with his hand intertwined with hers. She loved how much of a gentleman he was; he made sure she got in alright and assured her to call him if she had any problems. She kissed his cheek and pulled out carefully, driving alone through the dark development and onto the highway.

She liked driving and was even good enough to make some of the guys forget the common stereotype they had with female drivers. What she enjoyed most though was when she was alone like this and got to think. She had a lot on her mind at the moment, too, so this was the opportunity she had been waiting on for a while.

Itatchi was her biggest concern.

She ignored the rumors, but even he admitted his reputation with the ladies that went around wasn't too far off the mark. He'd admitted to her most of the strange relationships up until the point she shouted out that the subject of his ex's and what they did alone or with other people was a taboo topic. It sometimes irked her to know that he had multiple partners and she hadn't… well, had _any_. They had been going steady for a about three months now and had only ever held hands, hugged, and kissed each other's cheeks and foreheads.

Was that enough for him?

Would he stay with her for going slow?

Why didn't she want to go further?

She took deep breaths. _Relax_, she told herself. _It's normal that you haven't gone off and screwed_ _him after just a couple of months. _But she couldn't help but feel that even though he said he wanted her and would wait for her that he didn't mean it.

So when she said she didn't listen to anything negative about him, did it count when he told her himself?

_I need to stop stressing out about tha-_

**CRACK!**

Tenten whipped her head to peer out her passenger window and slowed her car down to a stop. She was by a parking lot to a small restaurant, debating whether to get out and investigate what she had heard (it sounded like a gunshot) or to ignore it and continue going home.

She _should _have kept driving.

She _should _have considered that whatever was out there might hurt her.

She _should _have, but she didn't.

She kept her car on, windows rolled up, and car locked. She was just curious at that point. It's uncommon to hear guns firing in this sort of clean town with a decent reputation–

"Fuck!"

The words bubbled out of her mouth. A body was limping toward a streetlight in the middle of the deserted lot. When he reached the pole he leaned his back against it and let gravity slide him down. Tenten saw the injuries stained on his skin and the blood pool flowing off of him from her spot a good quarter of a mile away. She decided than to throw common sense out the window.

If she wasn't so selfless and impulsive, she would have realized that she should call the ambulance or get someone's attention first.

But Tenten was selfless and she was impulsive.

She ripped her buckle off and flew out of her red jeep, sprinting at the speed of lightening over to where the hurt man was.

When Tenten had gotten in front of him, she knelt down and gasped. This was much worse than a man she did not know sporting severe wounds, this was _much worse_.

"Ei-Eiji?" she stuttered. Eiji was one of Itatchi's friends. He followed her king around with the same look of awe in his eyes that she had.

He struggled to raise his head up to look at her. He only made it halfway, but it was enough to let his bright eyes finish the job and find her. At first, he looked worried. "Te-ten-te-ten…"

"Hush, I'm going to get you out of here," she said in a rush, more to herself. She swiftly moved over and dug her shoulder in his armpit and put her hand under his other one, carefully lifting him up and allowing him to put all his weight it on her. "Alright, now walk with me… to my car. I'll get you to a hospital… oh fucking Christ, Eiji! Who the hell did this to you?"

He smiled weakly. "It's… it doesn't matter."

"I think it does! When we get to the hospital, y-"

Another gunshot. This one was close. Deafening. Tenten flew forward and dropped Eiji alongside of her. She pushed herself off the ground and made a move to drag him up until she saw that the bullet had gone through the back of his head.

Tenten just saw… someone die…

It was then she felt his blood clotting on her clothes and sinking into her skin.

She stood and twisted around to see one person looming under the light she had removed Eiji from.

One person…

… holding a gun…

…that was now perfectly aimed…

… _at her_.

Her breath caught in her throat and her skin exploded into chills that ran across her body. She felt hot tears pull into the corner of her eyes and leak through her lashes, drenching her cheeks. Her nose dripped, and at that moment she had thoughts echoing in her head all at once:

Itatchi, her family, how she just saw someone she knew and wanted to get to know better die, and… she was so ashamed of this and was refusing to admit it to herself… how gorgeous the man under the light looked.

Sirens blared from somewhere far away. The guy kept his gun directed at her but allowed his head to rove over to the direction the sound was escalating from. He moved his head back to Tenten, with his eyes narrowing and his hair whipping around him. "Hey, you! Girl!"

Tenten blinked angrily and whipped her snot and tears on her sleeve. When she looked back up she made sure she was wearing a nasty glare and frown for his blank face to take in. She refused to answer him.

"Answer me!" he shouted, though it sounded more like his voice just rose in volume since he sounded as emotionless as he looked.

"What?" she roared back, letting her emotions spill out with her voice. If she died, she wanted to do so making sure this guy would remember her enraged voice and face.

He didn't answer. Instead he walked to her. She shivered, feeling her nerves kick up, but refused to leave Eiji's side. That's when she realized he wasn't walking to her, but rather past her – he was going to her car.

"Get in and drive," he ordered, his voice icy cold… she'd never heard anything like it.

"No," she argued defiantly. "I will not leave my friend."

The killer stopped, and before she could inhale he was less than a foot in front of her, his gun pressing hard against her forehead. "He wasn't your friend and he's dead. Now _go drive_."

Tenten shivered and risked looking down at her classmate. She started tearing up at the realization that she was leaving him alone… she couldn't think about it. Not now. Not having much of a choice, she stalked off to her car and got in, slamming the door shut.

The sirens were closer.

"We have two minutes to get out of here," the killer said from his spot in her passenger seat. "Go."

"Where…?"

"Just _go_."

Regretting not turning her car off so she could stall and wait for the police, she slammed her door shut and sped off down the highway, going straight. She couldn't think like she had before. She couldn't think… couldn't breathe… just cry. She cried while she sped and gripped the wheel tightly and listened to the stupid commercials on the radio and recognized her growing hatred over the guy next to her who was staring blankly out her front window.

Once she reached her house, she pulled into her driveway as usual and turned the car off, taking her keys out of the ignition and sliding them into her purse she had on the floor.

Silence.

She made a move to get out of the car but a cold, hard grip on her upper arm made her freeze where she was.

"Anyone else home?"

"No," she whispered out, fighting back a new round of tears. She felt miserable and depressed and she just wanted him to either leave her alone or kill her already.

Silence.

He darted out of her car quickly and quietly. She was barely aware of what was happening as he went over to her side of the car and yanked her out – but she was shocked how he was … _gentle_ with her. He led her to her front door and eyed her curiously; it was the first expression he had worn all night. "It's unlocked," she managed to mumble out coherently.

He confirmed this by opening the door. Tenten heard a soft hum that built up to a loud pounding against her skull as he stepped inside. She was losing touch with what was happening around her.

She couldn't take it.

"Why didn't you kill me first…" she thought aloud.

She barely got to see him turn around as she fainted and fell through her front door.

--

**AN: **_Yeah, I know… fainting is about one of the corniest cliffhangers that guarantee all readers will commit murder out of rage. You guys deserve so much better… anyways, please read and review so I have an idea what to be working on. Every reviewer gets a candy corn… and if you don't like that, creamery ice cream… if not that, err… socks are always thoughtful, right?_


	2. Lucky You

**Chokechain**

**Chapter 2: Lucky You**

**Still don't own Naruto… 'cuz if I did, their wouldn't be so many filler episodes… anyways the title from lostprophets this time …**

**A thanks goes out to: **.Poisoned Scarlet. (me neither, I'm 100 Neji and Tenten. But I needed it for later laughs manically), Yuki-U (it was kinda dramatic… hmm, go figure), TeMaRi - SwEeTeSt SiN (next chapter here!), SomeRandomThing (glad you like it!), Merciless Ruby (I think I would too, but I've never fainted so I'm not sure O.O), TENTEN-NYGUYGEN-HYUUGA (hey – my first reviewer hugs and I may just love you for that…).

**ONWARDS!**

--

It was her first day of high school, but she already felt like she fit in fine. Tenten usually didn't have a problem making friends. She was nice, social to an extent, and talented. She also knew how to make people feel special when she talked to them; like they had all in her attention. Like they mattered.

It wasn't until her second week did she meet Itatchi. He was a grade above her, and had the title of the school's royalty. He even had a fan club!

Tenten didn't take much interest in talks about him though. He looked stuck-up more than anything.

But that second week was the turning point.

"Oh, it's Itatchi!" Mia, a girl at the table Tenten was sitting at, giggled.

All the girls whispered and blushed. Tenten smirked; she enjoyed the entertainment – a.k.a. all her friends freaking because of a cute guy. It was pretty funny even thought she'd never day it aloud. The guys at her table all either laughed with her or groaned in annoyance/jealousy.

The wonder strode over and Tenten took her first good look at him with some interest. He was good looking, she admitted, but he still looked stuck-up. She opted to text someone instead of oogle at him.

"Mia," he said softly. Damn, even his voice was nice to listen to. "Would you mind coming down to the library to go over our presentation for our next class briefly?"

She nodded fervently. "Y-yes, Itatchi!" she shrieked out moronically. The teacher had randomly paired them up for a project about something ridiculous. Hn.

Tenten looked up and smiled at her friend. "See ya later, Mia!" she said. She felt someone watching her and looked over behind her smiling friend to see Itatchi looking amused. She arched a brow and shrugged, going back to her device. She watched them leave from the corner of her eyes and blushed a bit.

A fan club devoted to him didn't seem like such a crazy idea anymore.

--

Tenten groaned and her sleepy eyes blinked open to the sunlight. Not liking her postion, she figured she'd roll over and –

"OMPH!"

Tenten was now laying on her back… on the floor. Judging by the hard wood floor her head was throbbing against and the thick rug her fingers were grazing, she was in her living room. But why was-

She snapped up and looked around the room. Yup, it was _her _living room. She got up carefully and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe…

Just maybe…

It was all a dream.

She nodded to herself. Yeah, that had to be it. She'd been hitting the books too hard lately. If she got a shower, she'd wake up enough to remember what happened before her nightmare. She went down the hall, up her steps, down that hall and opened the door to her bathroom.

She did not like what she saw.

She saw her outfit through a mirror above the sink, covered with dark and bright blood. She also had some crusted to her arm and the side of her face.

She blinked, and slammed the door shut.

"What… the hell?"

Another door slam came from the end of the hall. She flinched and whipped over to see a tall teenage boy closing the door. He took two steps and stopped, looking at the girl with indifference.

He had on the same thing he wore last night as well: a tight white shirt with grey and blue paint splattered on it and tight grey jeans. His long, chestnut hair was pulled back loosely and seemed to be kept in better care than her own waist-length dark brown hair. His eyes were milky and pupil-less and there didn't seem to be any hidden emotion.

He continued down the hall abruptly, ignoring her staring, and walked causally down the steps.

She stood there, dumbstruck, than got mad.

Beyond mad.

She was absolutely livid.

She raced down the same stair she came up and marched into her kitchen to see him looking through her cabinets.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she shouted.

He ignored her and asked his own question. "Where do you keep your pans?"

She tried to block out the thoughts of how his voce sounded better than Itatchi's – she was losing it. "Shut up! I'm no-"

"Found them," he told himself and plopped it on the stove. He then glided over to her pantry with a grace she never saw anyone else move with. She wanted to yell at him some more, but found herself asking "Wha-what do you think you're doing?" instead.

"Making eggs," he answered nonchalantly as if all killers went to their victim's friend's houses and did this. He sprayed the pan and took supplies out of the fridge.

Her face turned red. "_DON'T MAKE EGGS_! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW!"

Just like last night, his speed caught her off guard.

She found her back pressed up against the fridge, with his midsection holding her in place. He had his upper arm pushing against her neck and his other hand pressing her wrists above her head.

"And what if I don't listen to you?" he whispered darkly. "What will you do to me?"

Tenten struggled to take a breath, but refused to let him overpower her. She tried to bring her legs up to kick or knee him, but he just pressed his own against her. She was trapped. "I'll call the police!"

He laughed to himself. She cringed at the sound of that, too. Beautiful. "What if…" he murmured in her ear, "I kill you before they get here and take off, hmm?"

"Would you?" she asked without thinking than mentally kicked herself.

"I would."

"I'll call someone else then! My neighbor, my boyfriend, my parents –"

"You aren't going to be telling anyone about this," he told her harshly. "I'll be staying here for a while. While I'm here and after I'm gone, you'd find it in your best interest to keep my stay to yourself."

He released her, took the eggs from the counter, and went back to preparing his breakfast.

"B-but… you… you killed Eiji!" she cried out. It was then she felt tears. Whatever, she didn't care if he thought she was weak. She knew she wasn't.

He paused again, but resumed quickly.

"Just keep your mouth shut and I'll take care of the rest," he said again. She looked over at her calendar and grimaced, spotting how she wrote the dates her parents where and gone and when they'd be back in a bright red. So he knew that she was all alone for two weeks…

Her hands curled into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. Eiji's killer was going to be a 'guest' in her house and she couldn't do a thing…

What if she killed him?

She scoffed and bounded up the stair with tears still in her eyes. She couldn't. It wasn't in her. She wasn't going to denounce herself to his level. But if she didn't, he might kill someone else…

She opened and slammed the bathroom door, locking it tightly and undressing, throwing her bloody garbs to the bottom of the trash. She flicked the water on to its hottest temperature and undid her hair without a glance in the mirror.

'Okay," she thought to herself. 'Let's say hypothetically that I decided to kill him. How would I go about that? Sneak up behind him while his favorite show's on and stab with a machete I had laying around my house?"

She stepped in and let the water burn her skin as she scrubbed every soap she owned against herself to get Eiji's blood off of her. 'Okay, so what if I stabbed him in is sleep or poisoned his food…?' She shook her head. 'NO! I will not be a killer! Oh, what do I do…?'

She leaned into the stream of water and whipped her eyes. She needed to leave. She'd lie and tell this… killer… she promised to sleepover a friends house. It was Saturday after all, so it's not that farfetched. Then she'd go and tell Itatchi. He'd know what to do. He always did.

She smiled at her ingenious plan. Yes, that's what she'd do.

She washed her hair quick and stepped out of the shower into a towel she grabbed from the rack. After blow drying her hair, she sighed and prepared herself to unlock the door and run to her room. There was no way she wanted to see the homicidal maniac in her hallway with nothing but a towel on!

She opened the door and poked her head out. Whew, clear.

She bolted to her room, opened the door, and slammed it shut behind her. She laughed at her luck and twisted around to go to her closet. She dropped her towel and put on jeans and a short sleeve shirt. Noting too unusual. She put her hair in its usual buns hair style and nodded. She was ready to start Escape Plan A.

She waltzed down the steps to the coat closet for a large bag she used for sleepovers. She caught sight of the enemy still munching away on her eggs. Jerk.

Her stomach let out a loud grumble and she paled. It would betray her while she's trying to avoid attention…

She decided she can't do much on an empty stomach, so as soon as she found the back she tossed it on the counter and opted for cereal (there is no way she was going to waste time making eggs… and it's not like he had extra or she would eat it if he had). She noticed him observing her darting around from the counter, so she went out of her way to sit at the table. Far away from him.

They chewed in silence, though she barely heard him. When he finished, he put everything away in the proper place and put his dishes away (something Tenten didn't even do). He then walked over and sat on the opposite side of the table. She glared at him.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"What's with the bag?" he asked, ignoring her. AGAIN.

She glared at him with more ferocity. At least she tried to. "If you must know, I'm going to sleepover at my boyfriend's house. I was meeting up with him today."

She smiled smugly at his blank expression. If he kept her, he'd have to worry her boyfriend would come here. He was trapped now.

She dropped her smile when he shook his head. "I don't think so. I don't trust you enough."

"YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU KILLER!"

"You shouldn't let emotions get the best of you so often," he commented. "If I were in a bad mood, you'd be dead by now. Lucky for you, I need you alive."

Tenten looked questioning now. "How come?"

"Can't tell you."

"Well what CAN you tell me?"

He said nothing and stared at a spot above her shoulder.

She sighed. "Well, can you tell me why you killed Eiji? Why you're in my house? Any of that?"

"No."

'He's so cold!' she told herself, looking grim. "Well, what's your name?"

He titled his head. "Why would you want to know that?"

"So it'll be easier for the cops to find you."

He actually smirked at her much to her shock. "Neji Hyuuga."

Tenten's jaw dropped. "N-N-Neji Hyuuga?! Like, from the super rich Hyuuga Enterprises?"

"The owner's my uncle," he said dully.

"GAH!" she shrieked. "So you're the Neji Hyuuga! The super genius prodigy from the high school not to far from the one I go to!"

"How do you know so much about me…?"

"My boyfriend used to be best friends with you!" she told him. "Itatchi Uchiha!"

Tenten held back a gasp – not only had he finally showed emotions, but he went through a rainbow of them in a tenth of a second. Realization, sadness, disgust, fury. Than he was cool and calm again. "No longer."

Her face fell and she slumped into her chair. "But the way he talked about you… you seemed just as perfect as he is…"

He looked angry again. "_Perfect_? You think Uchiha is perfect, do you?"

Tenten's eyes got wide. "Uh… well, no one can be perfect I guess, but I think he comes close… what, do you hate him?"

He shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. "I don't feel anything for him. He's nothing." He looked up and burned Tenten's warm chocolate eyes with his now cold white ones. "Do you have any idea what kind of guy your dating or are you another mindless fan girl that buys into everything he tells you?"

Tenten's face got hot, but instead of backing down she glowered right back. "I don't 'buy' into what Itatchi or anyone else says. I make my decisions for myself."

Neji shook his head and sat back down.

"And I'll tell you what," she continued. "I'll let you stay here. You can hide out like the coward you are in my house all you want. But you will caught. Eiji will be avenged. You can't ignore your problems."

'And Karma's a bitch,' she added mentally, thinking it'd be too corny to say aloud.

"…If it's my fate to get caught, I will," he said.

Tenten slammed her hands on the table in disbelief; he didn't even argue with her just flat out said if it's meant to be whatever!

What kind of criminal WAS he?

--

**A/N: **_There's chapter 2! I hope I'm not making it too unrealistic… this may come as a shock, but I've never been held hostage by Neji. Really… ahem, so leave a review please!_


	3. Inevitable

**Chokechain**

**Chapter 3: Inevitable**

**If Naruto was mine, there wouldn't be so many single characters. I'd spread the love. But I don't, so most of the characters are still deprived of being with their soul mates… sigh… chapter title from Anberlin… **

---

It was toward the end of Tenten's freshman year that she talked to Itatchi for the first time.

Her parents were off at some wedding Tenten had to beg to not go to (her least favorite aunt that followed her around calling her a dike for excelling at sports would be sitting at their table). So they agreed that she could stay with a friend for the weekend so long as she called when she left for school, when she got home, when she went to bed, when she woke up. They'd take her home Saturday night around nine when they got back.

Tenten decided to stay with Alana. She was one of her friends from soccer and they had been hanging out a lot lately. She seemed cool.

Tenten knew that Alana's parents were also gone that weekend, too, but figured she wouldn't worry her parents about that. It'd be no big deal – what was the worst that could happen?

Turns out that Alana wanted to have a party and didn't tell Tenten. Now, she'd been to her fair share of parties, but she could honestly say that none where as bad as the one that night had been.

"Heeeeeeeey Ten! Wazzup huh?" Greg Miller, a senior that was known for being a flirt was leaning over the couch and had his face close to hers. He smelled like tangy smoke – he must've gotten high. And as for what drink he was sipping on, it smelled strong enough to make you get tipsy.

"Hey, Greg…" Tenten said awkwardly. She had been sipping on the same drink – cup of lemonade she mixed with some coconut rum – for about an hour now watching the mayhem unfold. The house was trashed and there was way more people than should be scattered and doing dumb stuff all over the place. Tenten felt a bit out of place.

Greg leaned in and flipped his hair in a way he thought looked sensual, but ended up spilling some of the contents in his drink on Tenten's lap in the process. She groaned miserably.

"Hey, where's Rachel?" she asked hopefully. Maybe he could remember he had a girlfriend to go make moves on.

He sighed dramatically and waved his cup around – spilling more on Tenten and the defenseless sofa. "Oh, yooooooou didn't hear what I did? I – me and her – are kaput! SPLOOSH!"

He was a bad drunk, Tenten commented to herself. "When did this happen?"

"Hohuuuuum, about… today? Yes, I did it at today o'clock!" Greg giggled at his joke. Tenten rolled her eyes. 'Help me…'

"Say, what would you say to making me feel better, hmmmmmmmmmmmm?" he gurgled.

Tenten arched a brow. "Huh?"

Greg dropped his drink on someone's shoe and fell over the top of the couch. It took a while, but he eventually positioned himself so that he had his arm around Tenten and his lips against her shoulder. She shivered. 'EWE!'

"Um, Greg? I don't think I'm the best person to make you feel… err… better…" Tenten managed to say through her disgust. Some people were SO much better sober.

"Naw, _I like_ _you_!" he squeaked.

"No you don't," Tenten said as if this would change his mind. "You like… Janet! Yes! _Go find Janet and tell her how you feel_!"

He looked up at her and his eyebrows caved in. "You know what – you are ab-zoe-loot-ta-lee riiiiiiiight!" He struggled to get off the couch and mashed himself into the crowd. "JANET? JANET, BABY, I WAAAAAANT YOOOOOOOOOU!"

Tenten shook her head.

There wasn't a single Janet in their school let alone at this party.

He'd be busy for a while.

"You took care of him well."

Tenten jumped and looked up to see Itatchi take the now empty spot beside her. He was holding a bottle of vodka. He noticed her expression and smirked. "Take a swig."

She motioned to her cup. "I'm fine."

His smirk widened. "Trust me."

She sighed. Just a sip. She took the bottle and brought it too her lips, taking a small sip. She gave it back with a look of awe on her face.

"Water?"

He nodded. "I don't really like alcohol that much to be honest."

She laughed. "Wow. Go figure. So you don't drink at all?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes. I don't do just because everyone else is, though. I do it when I feel like."

Tenten smiled wide. Wow, not much of a conformist as she had thought, was he?

"Oh, I'm Tenten by the way," she said with a wave.

He smirked and did a salute back. "Itatchi. But I've heard of you already."

"Likewise. Half my friends are in your fan club."

"Hn, same here… you looked tired."

"That was… blunt. But true. I like to go to bed early."

"Someone who doesn't like to drink and someone who likes to go to bed early… who in their right mind invited us to this party?"

She sighed. "I'm stuck here." He arched a questioning eyebrow so she elaborated. "I mean my parents are out of town and stuff so they said I had to stay at a friend's house. I choose… this friend's house…"

He looked at her for a while, thinking. Finally he said, "We're friends."

She looked up and blinked. "Uh… yeah, I guess."

"Why don't you stay at my house?" he offered. "We have a guest bedroom."

'Try hundreds of guest bedrooms,' she said to herself. "Listen… not to be rude…"

"It's settled then. Come on." He took her wrist and she put her cup down, weaving after him through the massive crowd. He snuck around to the living room with her to get her bag and they struggled through the herd of bodies and out through the front door.

If someone didn't call the cops, it would be a miracle.

Tenten got in on the passenger side with a weird feeling in her stomach as Itatchi pulled out and sped off. He had a nice car… she didn't recognize the expensive and high-tech car she was in, but it was still nice.

They talked for a bit about random things they heard about each other. All good things of course. Tenten wasn't about to mention things like how she heard he was in gangs, had guns in his locker, and slept with a different girl every night like it was something everyone did.

Because she was well intertwined with the fan club of his, they did their best to keep these rumors hush-hush. But that also meant she heard them all.

Lucky for him, Tenten didn't believe in what people said. She judged someone for herself.

She was that kind of person.

"Here," he announced, pulling into long driveway that led to a huge estate. Tenten's jaw dropped and her eyes drooped in awe. Itatchi laughed.

He parked the car and led her through the front door. The entrance was large and welcoming with pictures of family and trinkets everywhere.

"My family is gone to," he said coolly. "Hope it's alright it's just us."

She noticed a playful glint in his eyes as if asking, "Why would that be a problem?" She just nodded. "It's fine." Were _everyone's_ parent's gone?!?

He led her up a large staircase and down a gorgeous hall. She was glad to see all the beautiful décor that surrounded her. It made her feel like royalty just being there.

He got to a door and opened it swiftly, backing away so she could enter first. She did so, and she gasped when the light flicked on. It was large and had sofas, a large television, a rug, a king-sized bed… everything you could ever want in a room.

Only it looked a lot more like a teenage boy's room than a guest room.

"Ita-" she didn't get to finish her question. His lips were smashed against hers. She found her back being pressed up against the bed and his hands rushing to work on clinging to her waist.

For as much as she kind of liked it, she really didn't.

She shoved him, but he was too strong. He moved though, and lifted his face up to hover above hers. "What?"

She gave him a strong, dirty look that caught him off guard. "Get off of me _now_."

He looked shocked, but did it anyway. After she got up, she pulled her hand back and punched him in the jaw. His eyes got wider. "I trusted you and you bring me into your room to take advantage of me? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? I heard a lot of rumors about what you do to girls, but I don't care. Do whoever you want in your room. But you are never going to get any from me!"

With that she stalked out of the room. She felt a vibration in her pocket and angrily yanked her phone out. "WHAT?"

"Ten, the police went to the party!" Jess, a girl who was also sober at the party, said in a rush. "Me and a couple kids snuck over to Andy's house. Man, was it bad! I just wanted to make sure you made it out okay! I didn't see you –"

Tenten twitched and just hung up without a goodbye.

Her life _sucked_.

She heard footsteps and turned around. Itatchi stood outside his bedroom door with a slight look of… was that embarrassment on his face? "I got a text about the party… got busted…"

She nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

It was silent, and he spoke with a nervous voice. "I've never been… rejected before…" he noticed her furious expression and quickly added, "but it's okay that I was! I apologize, Tenten. I just… can we restart?"

"… I, guess…"

He smiled and she couldn't help the warmth flood to her cheeks. "But only if you can give me a ride home tomorrow and let me sleep in the guest room ALONE. Only then," she added, hoping to pass the redness in her cheeks off as anger.

His smile grew wider. "Right this way…"

---

It had been this way for a while now.

Actually, it had been this way ever since the end of breakfast.

So that means nothing has changed for about an hour.

Tenten was sitting on her wrap around sofa (on the corner farthest away from Neji) in the pale yellow living room which faced the glass door that led to her patio with a look of pure annoyance on her face.

Neji was in the middle of the longer side which faced the television looking… well, he didn't have an expression, so he just _looked_.

They didn't talk. They didn't turn the t.v. on.

They didn't do _anything_.

'I'm so bored!' Tenten sang to herself in her head. 'Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored…' She looked over at Neji and scrunched her nose up. 'Ugh, it's HIS fault I'm so bored. I hate him. I hope he drops his gun and shoots himself…' She then looked down at her phone with a sigh. 'Why hasn't Itatchi texted me or called me at all yet…? This is weird. We at least say good morning every Saturday and Sunday… and Jenny won't leave me alone! Obviously I don't know what the math homework is if I haven't texted her back…'

"Do you mind?" Neji asked in aggravation.

Tenten looked over at him. "What?"

"You keep making faces at me and sighing at your phone. It's exasperating."

"Jerk! At least I'm _doing_ something!"

Only his eyes moved to see her, and he tightened them as if that act only was a threat, and brought his sight back to the air in front of him.

'Gee, he's boring. What a fucking jerk,' she said to herself with a shake of her head. 'Who's he to tell ME what to do? I'm letting him play hide and seek in my house, aren't I? I didn't call the police for what he did to Eiji, did I? He should just leave me the hell alone! Rot in my basement or something! Not eat my eggs and follow me to every room I go to!'

Her phone vibrated. She whipped it up and smiled – Itatchi.

'Awe,' she said to herself with excitement. 'I forgot about his internship-thing he had with his dad was today! I wondered why – awe he's so sweet to be texting me on his break! What a great guy! I guess I should say h-'

She gasped.

'WHAT IF I TOLD ITA-'

_Fwip_.

Tenten was left blinking dumbfounded at her now empty hand with her useless epiphany swimming around in her head. She looked up to see Neji giving her screen a smirk – it wasn't one she'd ever seen anyone wear before. He had an angry glint in his eyes.

"So," he mused aloud. "I guess you must be important to him. He never tried to communicate with someone before like this." He pressed another button and turned it off.

Tenten's face lost its color. "Hey, give that back!"

He ignored her (what's new, really?) and walked to the basement door, opened it, turned the light on, and disappeared down the steps. Tenten watched the door with confusion. What could he possible be up to?

That's when she heard a gun shot rip through her basement. She jumped and felt her spine tingle.

Then she heard soft thumps on the steps and watched as Neji turned the lights off, closed the door, and made his way back to the sofa. He sat down and his expression or lack there-of returned.

It was as if nothing had just happened.

Tenten tried to remain calm. "Homicidal Maniac…"

He kept his head forward.

"What did you shoot?"

He didn't so much has look over at her.

She sighed, than realized he was missing something… something important. She looked at his hands, his pockets, his lap…

"Homicidal Maniac…"

Nothing.

"… where's my phone?"

She didn't get a reaction, but he did give her an answer. "I shot it."

Silence.

Three…

Two…

One…

"You WHAT?" she roared.

"I shot your phone," he repeated. When he caught her expression, a smug smirk crept over his face.

Tenten was furious. She had bought that phone and it took a lot of cto get her parents to pay for it during the school year when she wasn't working. She had all her numbers in there… but she wouldn't show him he won. No way.

No satisfaction would be given to him.

She just slid further back in her seat looking chill. She decided to stare avidly at the dust particles too.

She noticed his smirk shift into a line and one of his eyes brows curve down. "Doesn't that… bother you?"

She shook her head. "Nope, not really."

He shook his head and went back to ignoring her. He had fun with that.

And things were back to 'normal.'

She couldn't take it. This was eating her up. She hated doing nothing. It's what she did during school; she didn't need this 'nothingness' to consume her weekends, too. "Can't we do something?"

He gave her a puzzled look. "I never said you couldn't do anything so long as it doesn't involve you leaving the house or trying to call the police on me."

"Fine then." Tenten made a move to get up, but she found Neji darting to her mom's office and came back just as fast.

"Did you happen to hide the cables to the computer?" she guessed.

"I happened to hide them, yes. "

"Why do you want to destroy me? Or take away my internet access… honestly, all the cables?" she grumbled. What choice did she have now? He took away all her electronics except the television…

A knock was heard from the door. Tenten whipped her head up. She noticed Neji was tense. More knocks erupted from the door, louder than before.

She slowly got up and took small, careful steps to where Neji stood at the start of the small hall that led to her front door. She didn't know why, but she looked up at him, and at the same moment he looked down at her.

She got a jolt. He didn't look panicked, he didn't look angry, he didn't look scared.

He looked calm.

His lips were in a faint line as always with not tension lines across his face. It was smooth and sculpted. His brows were slightly set in – also something she was used to by now, since he was always thinking and never relaxed them enough to let them stay placed where they should have been. His eyes were a warm white.

She looked at the door and walked forward, a hotness inflaming her entire face. He didn't tell her what to do, he didn't have his gun out, and he didn't give her a demand. Was he trying to use reverse psychology?

The knocking ceased as soon as Tenten opened the door.

She did her best to smile.

"Hi, Mrs. Noll!" Tenten greeted cheerfully as she did to whoever ambled across her doorstep.

"Tenten, oh thank god you finally answered your door!" the middle aged red head bantered. "I was getting ready to get Henry to break down the door! We saw your car and knew you were here –"

"Uh-huh, hn, well, if you came to check up on me, I'm a-okay!" she said with a smile. Anything to get this annoying lady outta here…

"Yes, well Henry and I heard a gun shot and we wanted to see if it came from here and if not if you're all right."

Tenten feigned a look of worry. "Gun shot…? Oh, I heard that too! I just brushed it off."

The woman gave her a stern look. "You don't brush anything off, ya hear me?" Tenten nodded. "Good. You're a good girl – I know you'd tell me if anything bad happens?"

"You bet."

The woman smiled. "Good. Let me go see if Sally knows what's going on. Take care, dear!"

"Bye!" Tenten waved and wasted no time slamming the door shut. She whipped around and came face to face with Neji. He looked stunned.

"Why-"

"I wouldn't even wish her wrath on a whacked out killer like you."

She looked up at him and beamed. Honestly, she hadn't even thought of turning hinting he was there. Then, her smile fell…

He was holding her captive, he shot her phone, and he killed Eiji.

Oh no…

She slid to floor and put her face in her hands. She felt tears… she had never cried more in her entire life than she had today. How could she be so stupid?

She faintly was aware of the hand that slid through her arms and the finger that had put itself firmly under her chin. She brought her shaky hands to her face and wiped the tears from her lashes before dropping them to her sides. The finger lifted her face so hers was inches from Neji's. He was knelt down in front of her, looking serious.

"I didn't kill… your friend."

More tears. "That's not true, you had the gun… you shot him!"

His face was placid as she broke down. "I won't lie to you. I did shoot him." She cried harder. "Please, listen… stop crying." It sounded like he was trying to plead with her.

She tried. She looked up at him. She tried to pretend this wasn't real so she could listen to what he was saying.

"I killed your friend," he repeated, testing her emotions. She stayed stiff. "I did not, however, have anything to do with how he looked before I shot him. He would have died before the ambulance could ever have made it to him in his condition and I was just making the transition easier."

"You don't know that!" she argued. "He might've lived!"

He considered this. "Possibly, but the odds were in favor against him."

"Why did you do it?"

"I told you, I did it so he wouldn't have to suffer so much before death."

"No," she said. "Not that. Why did he have to die?"

Neji tapped his thumb against her chin. "Revenge."

"You mean, he killed one of your friends?"

He hesitated before answering. "In a sense, yes."

She nodded. After a few seconds of silence he took his hand away and stood, hovering above her. He made a move to leave and –

"I would have done the same thing."

He froze.

"I… if I was in the same situation, I would have done the same. You know, avenge a friend." She choked back a sob. "And I don't know if you're lying to me, because if so you're really good at it. But I think… I want to think you aren't."

He didn't turn around. He just kept walking down the hallway.

She only wished she could see his face.

---

Thank you's go out to...

**Merciless Ruby** (lol thanks so much! I always wanted to be kidnapped by neji but I don't think anyone would want to read that… sigh. Ill just let tenten take my place ^_-), **Vampiress-In the Rain** (aw I never saw anyone spell happy your way. Its so cute! Sorry I take forever to update I know, but I hope this met your expectations!), **Classic Tragedy** (thanks a lot for the support lol), **SnowCharms** (hmm… your making good guesses… looks like your just going to have to read to see if your right *muahahaha*), **Hexxgirl** (hostage situations ARE fun ^.^ at least, I think so…)

**A/N: **_Neh, that flashback was long-ish. I want to get Tenten's background with Itatchi out of the way so I can reference it and not have everyone feeling confused. Seriously, don't you feel ten times smarter when you read something and remember something about a flashback? Or maybe it's just me… at any rate, they won't last the entire story, so bare with me please! Oh, and reviews equal love, so spread some my way…_


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